Each row of pads on Push2 uses different midi channels??

[Michelle911]

Hey all, I'm a bit confused sometimes things I think I understand come back to haunt me.

I have a few external synths and sometimes there's odd behavior. Trying to understand more I noticed something tonight that I don't understand and that I can't find an answer for.

So, why does Push2 show a different midi channel in use (Input Channel under Midi From) for each row of pads? This doesn't happen with my other midi controllers.

[jestermgee]

Normally a device uses a single MIDI channel at a time or maybe one channel for keys, one for CCs and maybe another for your pads (if it has any). This is for "typical" MIDI devices.

Push is not a typical MIDI device so does some specialised things with how it xmits data to the computer. I certainly don't understand exactly what it's doing under the hood, don't have a need to, but it does send using multiple channels for some reason which isn't what you would normally expect.

[Michelle911]

ok, that makes some sense.

I have four external synths that I load into a set for jamming/practice and sometimes things go haywire and require me to reset one or all of them. I was trying to isolate each one to it's own midi channel in hopes of affecting a change in this, then I noticed what push was doing.

thank you for your super-fast reply! I appreciate the input. back to the drawing board lol

[metastatik]

The reason the Push controllers do this is to facilitate playback feedback – so that pads corresponding to notes coming out of a track will light up as the notes are played. Since multiple pads can correspond to the same note, multiple channels are needed to allow for proper feedback.

It's unlikely that the Push controllers would play a role in the haywire issue. So, it's probably best to not use the Push controllers at all while troubleshooting that issue. Additionally, in Live's Preferences, ensure that none of the MIDI ports used by the synths are selected as the input or output of any control surface script. Also, ensure that the Remote switches are turned off for the MIDI ports used by the synths.

[daveypassage]

If I’m understanding the extent of the limitation correctly, this idiosyncrasy would probably disqualify the PUSH device from solving for EXTERNAL HARDWARE SYNTH MULTI PROGRAMS, is that accurate? The only hardware I have been able to effectively use in conjunction with the PUSH device (1 & 2) is the ACCESS VIRUS TI because of the proprietary Virus Control software that successfully (unlike MANY imitators) allows full programmability AND dissemination of traditional MIDI channels and corresponding data by organizing a relationship between DAW and hardware wherein the DAW (Ableton Live for purposes here) treats the connected device (the ACCESS VIRUS) as a VST, VST-2&3, AU, Component etc. That was mostly a match made in heaven. I have to say overall I have been pretty disappointed in the functionality but specifically the RELIABILITY of the PUSH (push 2 in my case). It seems like I can’t expect it to behave the same way every time it’s attached to an Ableton Live set. It decides to freeze at really inopportune moments and there is never a guarantee that it won’t just up and quit, or malfunction in any number of ways. Last night a drum rack cell retained the first sample I assigned to it after I had changed the sample, deleted the cell, reactivated Drumrack, restarted PUSH etc. Drumrack WITHIN the software itself was functioning as expected; I was able to replace the old sound and delete the cell normally, but the PUSH pad corresponding to that drum cell just would not let go of the first sound. PUSH was doing something the software was not. I mean it’s so much fun when it’s working, but...it doesn’t work all the time.